Two Paulding County high schools, Hiram and North Paulding, each participated in the Georgia High School Association volleyball playoffs last week and played in first-round matches.

Hiram, coming off of a second-place finish in Area 5-AAAAA, hosted Ware County on Oct. 17 and emerged with an impressive 3-0 (25-9, 25-22, 25-15) victory, sweeping the Gators. MacKenzie Chambers had 23 kills, Dasia Smith posted 10 kills and setter Amber Harris had more than 40 assists in the win for the Lady Hornets

Hiram advanced to the second round of the playoffs, traveling to Dunwoody to face the Wildcats on Tuesday of this week.

“We played together with good energy and communicated well against Ware County,” Hiram head coach Kevin Thomas said. “It’s good to be playing strong volleyball at the end of the season when it counts.”

Hiram faced Dunwoody last season in the playoffs and emerged with a 3-2 win.

The Hornets have now won 31 contests this season, which matches last season’s total. The Hornets have become one of the strongest teams in all of Class AAAAA, winning 16 of its last 19 matches. Hiram has averaged more than 30 wins each of the last three seasons.

North Paulding also had a strong 2013 campaign, making the postseason for the fifth consecutive season. The Wolfpack’s 36 wins surpassed the 28 victories amassed in the 2012 season and was the second-most in a season for the young program.

North Paulding, which went undefeated in Area 5-AAAAA play prior to the area tournament, traveled to Sequoyah, one of the top five teams in the Class, on Oct. 17. The Wolfpack dropped the contest 3-1 (25-9, 25-6, 23-25, 25-12), snapping its four-match winning streak which included wins over Villa Rica, East Paulding, Paulding County and Woodland-Bartow.

It was the second consecutive playoff defeat for North Paulding, which dropped its contest to Tucker in the first round last season.

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